Using Mobile View to manage the Device Emulator

Do you need to copy files on the device emulator? Do you need to add a bunch of keys in the device emulator's registry?

Mobile View may be used in combination with the Device Emulator. You may copy files or editing the Device Emulator's registry.
In order to do that you have to "connect" the Device Emulator with ActiveSync:

1. Open ActiveSync. From the "File" menu select "Connection Settings".
Check "Allow connections to one of the following" and select "DMA" from the dropdown list bellow.


2.Launch Visual Studio 2005 and start the Device Emulator Manager from the "Tools" menu. Launch the emulator from the emulator's list.
After the emulator is launched, right click current emulator (in the Device Manager) and select the "Cradle" menu item



3.Go to emulator itself, launch ActiveSync and select "Connect via DMA..."



4.Launch Mobile View and go to manage your virtual device.


Links:
Mobile View Web site
Mobile View download link

Mobile View 0.1 Beta Released

I published the new Mobile View release - 0.1 Beta. It introduces some defect fixes and some new features:
- New TAB called "Tools" was added
It provides ground for adding "pluggable" tools without the need to recompile the whole app.
- Auto update feature is implemented. Mobile View will check for new versions on start-up and eventually will download and install the update. The feature may be disabled as well
- Mobile View has a simple support page
- RPM deployment tool is implemented. You may deploy and start the RPM directly from Mobile View. The feature is based on sample provided by Chris Tacke
See the following link for details: http://blog.opennetcf.org/ctacke/PermaLink,guid,793b6c03-496c-4187-a27c-bf369c67d713.aspx


See the Release Notes for details about this release.

You have to uninstall the Alpha release before installing the latest one.
There is no binary download anymore, because it is quite tricky to install Mobile View manually.
Download and Enjoy!

Mobile View 0.1 Alpha Released - a simple device management tool

I never had the chance to use the RAPI in a production code. I had a few accidental trials - just to see what is this creature for?
The RAPI is not quite a challenge for the managed devs,  since the OpenNETCF.org released their Desktop.Communication library.

I spent few days in assembling a simple tool to manage my Windows CE based devices during my daily activities.  It is called Mobile View and it provides functionality for managing Windows CE based devices from the Desktop:

Features:

• Observing the device system information like CPU parameters,  Platform type, Battery levels  and even the .NET Compact Framework  version installed.
  
• Device File System Management: 
  
  
  
  • Copying, Deleting and moving files on the device and uploading and downloading files to/from the desktop
    
  • Viewing file properties
    
  • Sorting and searching for files
    
  • Drag-n-Drop support for moving files on the device
    
  • Drag-n-Drop support for uploading files on the device from the desktop
  
  
• Device Registry Management: adding and  deleting registry keys and values in the device registry.

It is actually a very first release (0.1 Alpha) and it has a number of known (and unknown) issues. The reason to release it so early is just because it seems to me that if this tool goes public, I won't  loose my initial passion to fix the problems:

Known Issues in Mobile View 0.1 Alpha:

• Device Registry Editor: It is impossible to delete an existing registry key due to a defect in the Desktop.Communication library
  
• Device Registry Editor: The editor treats all registry values as strings
  
• Device File System: An error is thrown, when a device file  is dragged-n-dropped over windows explorer - e.g. it is impossible to download files from the device by drag-n-drop. However the file context menu option "Copy File To Desktop" may used as a workaround.
  
• OS detection crashes on some devices, so  it is suspended in this release
  
• "Go To Support Web Site" feature is not implemented, yet
  
• "Check for Update" feature is not implemented, yet

Requirements:

• .NET 2.0


• ActiveSync

All you need to use Mobile View is ActiveSync and a Windows CE(PPC and SmartPhone are supported as well) based device attached to you PC.
Mobile View may be used with real devices and the Device Emulator as well. I'll blog about the Device Emulator Support in the near feature.

 

The tool is completely free! So you may download it for your own use:

Download links:
  Mobile View Setup
  Mobile View Binaries

IMPORTANT NOTE: The tool is provided with no warranties at all. Use it on your own risk!

I'm planing to fix the known issues soon and also adding more features in the near future. 
Feel free to contact me for defects/problems found in Mobile View via comments on this blog or the e-mail given.
Stay tuned for updates!